Four generations of RICHARDSONs 1917

Four generations of RICHARDSONs 1917
William Richardson, Alice Josephine Richardson Dakin, Robert Worthington Richardson, Harry Bogart Richardson

Thursday, August 8, 2013

A Family Story, a Bit of Investigation and the "The Rest of the Story"


My mother used to tell the story about her mother-in-law's Aunt Mary:

Mary lived to be 92.  In her old age, her family became concerned about  her living alone on the family farm.  They insisted that she move in with her daughter-in-law.  Each day, Mary would get up, hitch up the horse and  wagon, ride up to her home, spend the day and then return at night to sleep at her daughter-in-law's home.  When she died, Marion Dakin, her niece, helped to clean out the house.  Marion found all of the "new  fangled" gifts--a toaster, an iron, etc.-- she had given her over the  years still in their original boxes.

πππππ

Mary Louise Helsten was the oldest child of Eric Adolf Helsten and his wife Mary Hearty.  Mary L was born in Patterson New York on 7 June 1850, and the next year her family moved to Gaylordsville Connecticut where she grew up. In 1878, shortly before turning twenty-eight, she married a widower, Charles Pomeroy, who had a teenage son Henry.   Henry was the child of Charles Pomeroy and Josephine Hallock Pomeroy



No one in the family told any stories (that I recall) of Aunt Mary Pomeroy as a step-mother, or wife -- just as an elderly woman who lived thirty-nine years after her husband died in 1903.  She was fifty-three years old when her husband died.  So what was she doing for thirty-nine years?  She never remarried.  How did she support herself?

A little bit of searching in the US Census:
• 1850 can't find Charles Pomeroy
• 1860 Charles Pomeroy (age 26) and Gertrude Pomeroy (16) are living with Ithamar (63) and Louisa (60) Ferris in New Milford, Conn.
• 1870 Charles Pomeroy (35) and his wife Josephine Pomeroy (24) are living in Litchfield, Conn on her parents' farm, Homer (60) and Caroline (55) Hallock.  Charles is working as a farm laborer.
• 1880 Charles Pomeroy (45) and Mary L (30) and son Henry (17) are farmers in Litchfield, Conn.
• 1900 Charles Pomeroy (65) and Mary L (49) are living in New Milford, Litchfield, Conn. and he is a farmer.
• 1910 Mary Pomeroy (59), widow is living in New Milford, has a hired hand (under relationship), who is listed as a "farmer," not "farm hand" (under occupation) ... THE REST OF THE STORY... 

πππππππππ

I was looking at Miriam J Robbins site to search for city directories.  She had some links for New Milford, Connecticut and I was working my way through the directories checking out various family names.  I started noticing the ads.  This half-page ad was run in the directories for 1884-5, 1888-9, 1891, 1897:


Looks like Charles Pomeroy was not only farming.  If you take a look at his farm.  Sure looks like it is also a lumber yard on the right:


Not only does it look like both a farm and a lumberyard, but look between the buildings, set back, there is the house that Mary lived in with her husband Charles and, in her later years, would drive her horse and wagon to daily to spend her days in her latter  years.



Charles Pomeroy died in 1903, and by 1902, he no longer had his large ad.  He was listed, instead, in small listings under the individual items sold, such as "FERTILIZERS"



Now for the rest of the story.  What was Mary doing after her husband died?

Here is the listing for the various Pomeroy family members in 1914 in New Milford





"Pomeroy ...
--Mary wid Charles hardware and lumber Merwins-
     ville n Gaylordsville h do"

Written out without abbreviations:
 Pomerory Mary, widow of Charles, hardware and lumber [business] in Merwinsville near Gaylordsville, home ditto [she lived where she worked, a "home-based business" in today's lingo].

Looks like Mary was busy.  According to the small ads in that 1914  directory, she had listings under:
Hardware and Cutlery, Lumber, and Mason Materials.  Even if, in the address book section, she is "Mary, widow of Charles;" when listing 'Mary the businesswoman,' she was "Mrs. Charles Pomeroy" in the directory:

In 1914, she is sixty-four years old and clearly working at the family business that her husband started and ran in addition to the farm.

The next online directory I found for New Milford, was 1927.  Here she is listed as "Mary E wid Charles h Gaylordsville" and her grandson Charles, son of Henry is running the business.

In the 1930 census she and her daughter-in-law, Caroline Pomeroy (63), are living together in New Milford, they are each widows, she is the head of household at age 79. In 1940, she is still the head of household, now at age 89 she has her step-daughter-in-law Edna C Pomeroy (74) living with her in her own home, as she was in 1935.  She completed two years of high school according to the census.

In the 1930 census, the property listed right before Mary Pomeroy has Charles C Pomeroy, and it is listed as farm and lumber!  So, sometime before 1930, her grandson has taken over the family business.

ππππππππ


One final thought.
I was looking at Charles Pomeroy's ad.  He is selling "Box Shooks."
"Shook" was a term that I wasn't familiar with.  So I looked it up in the Free Dictionary by  Farlex.
A shook:  "a disassembled barrel; the parts packed for storage or shipment"
Maybe you learned a new word today too!

The link to this post is http://genea-adventures.blogspot.com/2013/08/a-family-story-bit-of-investigation-and.html

©Erica Dakin Voolich 2013



Thursday, July 25, 2013

The FISH family in the "Boston Evening Transcript"


When I'm researching, I'll periodically come across a reference to a source not available online.   I'll print out a copy of the information and add it to my folder of materials to borrow through Inter Library Loan or to access at a particular library.  Frequently, the American Genealogical-Biographical Index (AGBI) will come up.   According to Ancestry.com: "Most of the works referenced in the AGBI are housed at the Godfrey Memorial Library in Connecticut. A photocopy service is available."

For a long time I didn't really understand how to read the reference.  For example, I am researching Lydia Fish, and the citation referred me to Vol. 54 and page 265.  Before I learned that the real meat of the reference was below that, I went to find the AGBI in a library only to be disappointed that there wasn't more information there.  This time when I had a reference to AGBI, I knew to read below the initial information and to search for that:
"Gen. Column of the "Boston Transcript:. 1906-
1941. (The greatest single source of material for
gen. Data for the N.E. area and for the period
1600-1800.  Completely indexed in the Index.):
13 Dec 1921, 9343; 23 Jan 1922, 9343; 15 oct
1934, 2684"
What I needed to find were copies of the Boston Evening Transcript, not a copy of AGBI.
The New England Historic Genealogy Society in Boston has the pages (each the size of today's Boston Globe's) with the newspaper's "Genealogy" columns all carefully saved in multiple boxes, filed by year then month.

Wikipedia described the Genealogy column in the Boston Evening Transcript:
Because of the genealogy column The Transcript is of value to historians and others. Gary Boyd Roberts of the New England Historic Genealogical Society noted:
"The Boston Evening Transcript, like the New York Times today, was a newspaper of record. Its genealogical column, which usually ran twice or more a week for several decades in the early twentieth century, was often an exchange among the most devoted and scholarly genealogists of the day. Many materials not published elsewhere are published therein."[12]
[12] New England Historical Genealogical Society: Genealogical Thoughts by Gary Boyd Roberts

The frequently full page column devoted to Genealogy had its own rules:

There were three parts to the column each day:  QUESTIONS, ANSWERS and NOTES.
It turns out that my reference to Lydia Fish, had one Question, one Answer and one Note.  Unfortunately, they were not devoted to discussing my Lydia, however they did include a mention of Lydia Fish in each case and did include some extensive family history details.



~~QUESTION~~

The question as submitted 12 December 1921:

In case you find that hard to read, here is the transcription:

“(9343.) 1. DAVOL, DEUEL.  Proof wanted
of the identity of Benjamin Davol, (name
spelled in various ways, Davol, Devil,
Davoll, Divil, Deuel) of Dartmouth, Mass.,
born Jan. 26, 1709, son of Joseph and Mary
Soule of Dartmouth, married Aug. 22, 1731,
Sarah Mosher, daughter of John Mosher
and Experience (Kirby) Mosher of Dart-
mouth, with the Benjamin Davol taking the
name Deuel, not liking to be called Devil
any longer, who moved from Dartmouth to
New York State, settling in the Oblong
Tract, at what is still called Deuel’s Hollow,
about 1735.  Died at Pawling, Dutchess
County, N. Y., Jan. 19, 1792.  His will was
recorded at Poughkeepsie, N.Y., 1892.
2. TRIPP, DEUEL.  John Deuel, son of
Benjamin (Davol) Deuel, married Ann,
widow Tripp, who had a son named Wil-
liam.  Wanted, date of birth of John
Deuel, and date of his marriage to Ann
He died December, 1772.  I should like the
maiden name of Ann with dates of birth
and marriage to ____ Tripp, the name of
_____ Tripp, name of her father and mother,
and date of her death.
3. DEUEL, FISH.  Cornelius Deuel, son
of John Deuel, born in 1756, died in 1809,
and married Mary Fish.  Wanted, day and
month of birth and death of Cornelius, date
of marriage to Mary Fish, date of birth
and death of Mary Fish, name of her
father with dates of birth and death, name
of her mother with dates of birth and
death, and date of the marriage of father
and mother.
4. FISH. Thomas Fish, son of Preserved
Fish of Portsmouth, R.I., born Dec. 1,
1703, married Dec. 16, 1724, Mercy Cogges-
hall of Portsmouth, R.I., born Dec. 22,
1704, moved in later years to America,
N.Y., County Dutchess.   Children:  Lydia;
Thomas, born in Rhode Island; Joshua;
Mary, and others.  Mary Fish, wife of
Cornelius Deuel, was probably grand-
daughter of Thomas Fish.  I should be
grateful for help on any one of the above
records.                    H.G.G.M.”



 ~~ANSWER~~

The answers were provided by serious readers who had information and would write back to the newspaper with their information.  This response was relatively quick, 23 January 1922, and even contained information on where to find their sources [the town birth records of Darmouth, Mass., a deed in Dartmouth, Mass. and a request for military exemption in Oblong, Dutchess County, NY].  It didn't include formal citations, but it gave clues for a serious researcher to follow.

In case you find that hard to read, here is the transcription:

“9343. 1. DAVOL, DEUEL.  H.G.G.M.,
Dec. 12, 1921.  The information given in
this query appeared Jan. 2, 1907, Ben-
jamin Devel being third from George Soule.
His children are there given as:  George;
Joseph, born Jan. 9, 1735, who married
Rachel Smith; John; Benjamin, Jonathan;
Bathsheba; Sarah; Abigail; Hannah.
Wanted, the marriage of the other chil-
dren. SAN FRANCISCO
4. FISH. Thomas (4) Fish, of Dart-
mouth, Mass. and Dutchess County, N.Y.,
(Preserved 3, Thomas 2, Thomas 1) was
born Dec. 1, 1703.  Dec. 16, 1724, he was
married to Mercy Coggeshall, daughter of
John and Mary Coggeshall.  The children
of Thomas and Mercy Fish as given on
the town records of Dartmouth, are: Lydia,
born Nov. 10, 1725; Wait (a daughter),
born Nov. 9, 1727; Amy, born Nov. 29,
1729; Preserved, born Nov. 6, 1731; John,
born Feb. 16, 1734; Elizabeth, born June
4, 1736; Sarah, born Dec. 28, 1738; Caleb,
born Oct. 30, 1740. About 1740 Thomas
removed with his family to the Oblong, in
Dutchess County, N. Y.  Two more chil-
dren were born to him there:  Joshua and
Job.  I do not find that they had any son
Thomas.
John (3) Fish, Jr., of Dartmouth, (John
2, Thomas 1), born Jan. 14, 1707-8 was
married Jan. 29, 1729, to Remember Youin
in Dartmouth.   Thomas, born June
12, 1732; Seth, born March 15, 1734;
Eliphaz, born Nov. 9, 1735.   This John
Fish, Jr., also removed with his family to
the Oblong, Dutchess County, N.Y.  He
was of Oblong, March 15, 1745, when he
made a deed converting his land at Dart-
mouth to John Fisher weaver.  Under a
Colonial act passed on Feb. 19, 1755, for the
enrollment of Friends or Quakers who
claimed exemption from military duty, the
name of John Fish, farmer, in the Oblong,
appears.  There were doubtless other chil-
dren of whom I have not the record.”

Interestingly, the first part of the question was actually previously asked 15 years ago and so the answer referred the reader back to the column on 2 January 1907.  



~~NOTES~~

On 15 October, 1934, there is a Note about the FISH family.  It doesn't give me information on my Lydia Fish, however, it does give a clue about the relationship between the various FISH families in the New England Colonies in the 1600s and it tells me about her ancestors.  It doesn't say that it is in response to a question, but it does ends with an interesting Fish family which had 3 sets of twins (amazing in the days before fertility drugs) and  a reference to someone named H.J.B.C. from a column on 23 August 1933.  I didn't see that until I got home, so that will be saved for a future trip to NEHGS to check out.

Here is the transcription chocked full of FISH family details thanks to F.E.W.K.:

“NOTES
Note 2684.  FISH.  In the early settle-
ment of the English colonies in America
there were at least nine individual emi-
grants bearing the name of Fish:  Jona-
than, John and Nathaniel, in 1637, to 
Sandwich, on Cape Cod; Thomas, who
received a grant of land in Portsmouth,
R.I., in 1643; William, of Windsor, Conn.;
John of Connecticut; Joseph of Stamford;
Edward of Maryland; and Gabriel of
Exeter and Boston.
Jonathan, John and Nathaniel were
brothers, sons of Thomas Fish of Wedg-
nock Park, in Warwickshire, and grand-
sons of John and Margaret Fish of Great 
Bowden, in Leicestershire.  William of
Windsor was a cousin of these three
being a grandson of John and Margaret,
through their eldest son, Augustine.
Thomas Fish of Portsmouth, and John
of Mystic (Stonington) Conn., also were
grandsons of John and Margaret, through
their daughter, Alice, who married Rob-
ert Fish of Market Harborough, probably
of a nearly related family.  These six
cousins were a family which, for sev-
eral generations had lived in the parish
of Great Bowden, in Leicestershire, and
in that county and in Northamptonshire.
The name of Fysshe, Fisch, Fishe, etc.,
appears in English history at different 
periods, as far back as 1200, when the
name of Yvo Fisch appears.
The definite ancestral line of the 
American Fish emigrants begins with 
John Fyshe, of Great Bowden, who was 
born probably about 1555.  He was of
the yeoman class and married Margaret,
whose maiden name may have been
Cradock.  They had children, baptized in
Great Bowden; 1578, Augustine; 1580-1, 
William; 1582, Katherine; 1584, Thomas;
1586, Sara; 1588, Ambrose; 1589, Mary;
1591, Elizabeth; 1593, Francis; 1596, Anne;
1597, Alice; 1599, Mary; 1601-2, John.
Thomas the third son, was the father of
Jonathan, John and Nathaniel, of Cape
Cod.
In the more populous section of the
parish of Great Bowden, and contempo-
raneous with the first named John Fyshe,
there lived a Thomas Fishe, of Market
Harborough. He was probably a de-
scendant of Edward Fysh, of Harborough.
He may have been a brother of John of
Great Bowden, or perhaps a cousin.
These relationships are suggested by the
fact that the name Austin was given to 
one of the sons of Thomas, a name so
often used in the family in its other
form, Augustine.  The record of the bap-
tisms of children at Market Harborough
begins with “1585-6, Thomas, son of
Thomas Fishe, 10 March.”  Then follow:
1590, Austin, April 22; 1593, Robert, Aug.
12; 1595, William, Nov. 16; 1597, William,
March 27; 1599, Jeffrey, Oct. 28.
The above named Robert, son of
Thomas, baptized in 1593, was married,
at Market Harborough, Feb. 24, 1617-18,
to Alice Fish, daughter of John and
Margaret of Great Bowden. Their chil-
dren were baptized, some at Great Bow-
den and some at Market Harborough:
1618-19, Thomas, Jan. 1, at G. B.; 1620-
21, John, Jan. 21, M.H.; 1622, Ruth,
Sept. ?1, M. H.; 1623-24, Mary, Jan 24,
G ?  1625, Mary, at M. H.; 1626, Joseph,
? 17, M. H.; 1629-30, Nathan, March
? H.; 1630, Tabitha, May 8, M. H.;
10? Hannah, Nov. 24, M.H.; 1637,
Christian, Dec. 10, G. B.; 1639, Benjamin,
Aug. 1.  [a part of the print was missing]
Robert Fish, the father of this family
of eleven children, died Dec. 20, 1639, at
Market Harborough, at the age of 46.
His family was broken up and seems to 
have disappeared from the records of 
that neighborhood.  The elder sons,
Thomas and John, are accounted for in
Thomas of Portsmouth and John of Mystic
(where he died in 1689). Thomas of Ports-
mouth gave two of his children the
names of Robert and Alice.  John, of
Mystic, gave  the name of Alice of one of
his daughters.
Thomas (1) Fish, son of Robert, born
Jan. 1, 1618-19, died 1687, married Mary
_____, who died in 1699.  He had land
granted to him in Portsmouth, R.I., in
1643.  Thomas and Mary had children:
1. Thomas, died 1684, married Dec. 10,
1668, Grizzel Strange, daughter of John
and Alice Strange.  Children:  Alice, born
Sept. 15, 1671; Grizzel, April 12, 1673; Hope,
March 5, 1676; Preserved, Aug. 12, 1679;
Mehitable, July 7, 1684.
2. Mehitable, married Aug. 6, 1667, Jo-
seph Tripp, son of John and Mary
(Paine) Tripp.  Children: John, born July
6, 1668; Thomas, March 28, 1670; Jona-
than Oct. 5, 1671; Peleg, Nov. 11, 1673;
Ebenezer, Dec. 12, 1675; James, Jan. 12,
1677; Alice, Feb. 1, 1679;  Abiel, Jan. 8,
1681; Mehitable, Oct. 9, 1683; Joseph, Aug.
24, 1685; Jabez, Nov. 3, 1687; Mary, Aug.
22, 1689; Daniel, Nov. 3, 1691.
3. Mary, died April 4 1747, married
March 18, 1671, Francis Brayton, son of
Francis and Mary Brayton.   Children:
Mary, born Jan. 1 1676; Thomas, June
14, 1681; Francis, March 17, 1684; David,
Oct. 23, 1686; Mehitable, Jan. 12, 1693;
Benjamin, Sept. 8, 1695.
4. Alice, died 1734, married William
Knowles, son of Henry.  Children: Henry,
(born Sept. 9, 1675), William, Daniel. Rob-
ert, John.
5. Daniel, married, 1682, Abigail Mum-
ford daughter of Thomas and Sarah
(Sherman) Mumford.  Children:  Comfort,
1683; Thomas, 1685; Ruth, 1687; Daniel,
1690, Sarah, 1694, Jeremiah, 1698.
6. Robert, married 1686 Mary Hall,
daughter of Zuriel and Elizabeth Hall.  
Children:  Robert, 1690; Mary, 1693; Wil-
liam, 1695; Zuriel. 1697; Isaac; Alice, 1792;
Jonathan, 1704; Daniel, 1707; David, 1710.
7. John.
Preserved (3) (Thomas 2, Thomas 1)
Fish, married May 30, 1699, Ruth Cook,
daughter of John and Ruth (Shaw) Cook,
and died July 15, 1745.  Children:  Grizzel,
born 1699; Ruth, 1701; Thomas, Dec. 1,
1703, married, 1724, Mercy, daughter of
John and Mary (Stanton) Coggeshall;
Amy, 1705; Sarah, 1707; John, Feb. 23,
1709; Preserved, 1713; Benjamin, 1716, 
married Priscilla Arthurs.
Thomas and Mercy (Coggeshall) Fish
had children; Lydia, born 1725; Thomas,
married, 1750, Hannah Cornell; Mary,
married Cornelius Deuel; Joshua, born
1743; Hannah; John, born Feb. 16, 1734,
and two more.
Benjamin and Priscilla (Arthurs) Fish
had children: Sarah, born 1740; Pre-
served, 1741; Rhoda, 1743; Stephen, 1745;
Peace, 1747; John, 1749; Gilbert, 1751;
Artemas, 1754; Elisha (1), 1756; Elija,
1759; Elisha (2) 1762; Elihu, 1759, Gard-
ner, 1763.
Ruth (3) Fish (Daniel 2, Thomas 1),
married Joseph Thomas, and had a son,
Joseph, born 1718, who married Sarah
Estes, and had a large family, including
David Thomas, born 1761, who married
Elizabeth Fish, daughter of Robert and
Bathsheba (Barber) Fish.  Robert was a
grandson of Robert and Mary (Hall) Fish.
Daniel (3) Fish (Robert 2, Thomas 1)
had a son Preserved who had a son Job,
born 1774, married 1797 Mary Wilcox.
Mary (5) Fish Duel (Thomas 4, Pre-
served 3, Thomas 2, Thomas 1) had chil-
dren Isaac Preserved, Ruth, Mary, Ed-
mund, Audrey, Mercy, Thomas.
Joshua (5) Fish (Thomas 4, Preserved
3, Thomas 2, Thomas 1), born Jan. 13,
1743, married Phoebe Wright, daughter
of Job and Mary (or Phoebe) Wright,
Children:
1. Hannah, born 1765, married 1784
Jonathan Howland, and had children,
Isaac, Samuel, Daniel. Mercy, Hannah,
Esther and Phoebe.
2. Job, born 1766, married 1787 Rachel
Lounsbury.  Children:  Elizabeth, born
1789, married William Jones; Elias Hicks,
1792, Married 1813, Betsy Van Wagner;
Phoebe, 1795, married Daniel Norton;
Hannah, 1797, married 1821, Nahum
Warner; Ezra; Job, born 1803, married 
first, 1826, Maria Brown, second 1837,
Abigail Sinclear, third 1839, Pluma Geer;
John Nelson, 1805, married 1828 Susan
Arnold.
3. Peter, married Elsie Howland.
4. Preserved, married Lydia Strong,
and had children:  Joshua, born 1799, mar-
ried 1831 Juliana Moore; Hannah, married
Ashbel Curtis; John; Mary, married wil-
liam Elliot; Phoebe, married Hall Curtis;
Sally, married Rus Curtis.
5. John, married Polly Howe, and had
Platt Fish.
6. Thomas, married, March 4, 1795,
Lydia Briggs. Children:  Hannah, born
1796, died young; Daniel, 1798, married
1819, Anna Sprague; Polly, 1800, married
1816, Luther Sowle; Ann, 1801, married
1822, Thomas B Sowle; 1846, Jonathan
Hoyt; Anson T., 1806, married Sally _____;
Lucinda, 1810; Hannah, 1815, married
1832, J.L. Staples.
Artemas (5) Fish (Benjamin 4, Pre-
served 3, Thomas 2, Thomas 1), born 1754,
married Ann Shreve.  Children:  Job,
born 1777, married Mary Sisson; Ruth,
1779, married Abraham Barker, 1802;
Peleg, 1780, married Alice Sisson; Isaac,
married Sarah Bunnel; David, 1786; Mary,
1788; Anne, 1790, married ______ Potter;
Artemas, 1799; Eliza, 1799.
Elias Hicks Fish (the name indicates
that his parents were Quakers), son of
Job (6) (Joshua 5, Thomas 4, Preserved 3,
Thomas 2, Thomas 1) born 1792, died 
1867, Burr Oak, Mich., married Betsy
Van Wagner, daughter of Nicholas and
Katherine (Grant) Van Wagner, whose
genealogy has been traced back to Aert
Jacobson and Evert Pels, early settlers
in Albany, N. Y.  Children:  Rachel
Lounsbury, born 1814, died 1905, unmar-
ried; Nicholas Van Wagner, 1816, died
1895, married Matilda Perkins; Charles
Lounsbury, 1818,died 1903, married
Susan M. Stewart; Alexander, 1820, died
1823; Elias (M.D.), 1824, died 1902, married
Mary Gurney; Job, 1828, died 1923, mar-
ried Ann E. Peabody; Mary Ann, 1831,
died 1923, married Albert W. Judson;
John (M.D.), 1833, died 1888, married
Mary Peabody; Emily, 1836, died 1913,
married, first, Henry Canfield, second,
Dr. O. H. Wood; Elizabeth Jones, 1838,
died 1902, married Charles Powers.
Job Fish, above, had children: Flor-
ence, Williston and Josephine, twins,
Nicholas and Matilda, twins (died in-
fants), Mary, Job, John, Albert and An-
nie, twins.  Of the eight children, all
were school teachers, and all but one 
were college graduates.  The father was
a teacher for more than fifty years.  (The
last statement is for the benefit of 
H. J. B. C. 5741, Aug. 23, 1933.)
F. E. W. K.”


~~~~

What an incredibly caring and sharing community of genealogists who kept that column of the newspaper going over many years.  Very similar to the community of support I have found today between  genealogists, town employees, genealogy & history societies, blogs, G+, and FB.

I have no idea how many questions that were submitted went unanswered.  I'm sure they had their own "brick walls" of the day that they too struggled with solving, just like we are today.  I could list a few I'd love to have submitted.
  
The Oblong Friends Meeting House in Dutchess County,
New York.  Thomas Fish and his wife Mercy Coggeshall
moved to Oblong with their family, including their
daughter Lydia who married Timothy Dakin, shortly
before the OblongFriends Meeting was set off from
the Purchase Monthly Meeting in 1744.  This building
dates from the 1760's.
Lydia Fish Dakin was my GGGG'great grandmother
she would have attended meetings for worship and
meetings for business on the women's side.  The building
is split down the middle inside and has matching men's
and women's halves.  Women had their own business
meetings in those days.




©2013 Erica Dakin Voolich
The URL for this page is: http://genea-adventures.blogspot.com/2013/07/the-fish-family-in-boston-evening_25.html



Tuesday, May 28, 2013

They Might Have Arrived on an Alien Space Ship, But They Owned Land in 1656 -- However, What Was the Date?


When I discovered that FamilySearch.org had the Massachusetts Land Office Records found in  County Courthouses throughout Massachusetts, 1620-1986 available online, I wanted to look for my Thomas Dakin/Dakeynes/Dacon who was one of the persons who got "first division lands" in Concord [now part of Sudbury], after he was dropped off by an alien space ship [for some reason he hasn't been found on any of the ship manifests before the 1650s when he was in Concord getting first and second division lands.]


Deed Grantee Index for Middlesex County, 1639-1799, A-G














The actual records aren't searchable, however, the above entry in the Grantee Index clearly shows where to look for the actual record for Thomas Dakeynes: volume 2, page 105.  The Grantor Index gives the same information, ironically Thomas Dakeynes is both the grantor and grantee in these indexes.   FamilySearch.org very nicely not only uploaded the index but they uploaded the books too.  So going to volume 2, page 105 produced the deed referenced here.

Middlesex County, Massachusetts Deeds, volume 2, pages 104, 105






















The Dakin deed is the one on the lower right corner of the above pages, shown below:

























Thomas Dakeynes/Dakin/Dacon, husbandman, and his wife Sarah sold land, that they previously bought from widow Elizabeth Barrow, to John Hayward who signed an indenture (agreement) dated 9th day 11th month 1656.  The index gives a date almost three years later in 1659.  Looking closely at the deed, it clearly shows both in the text of the deed that it was the "9th day, 11th month 1656" and in the notation in the margin: "9.11.1656"
I have not transcribed the deed [very hard to read, will work on that later] but it looks like there is another sale of this land to Samuel and Josiah Dillard on 14th of 2nd month 1658.

So where did the date of 12 August 1659 come from?  It appears that was the date that they recorded the deed in the county of Middlesex.  If you look at both this deed and the one above it, the person who  recorded the deed was Thos Danforth.  The deed on top was agreed to 22 April 1657, but entered and recorded in 1659, by Thomas Danforth.

Since they lived in Concord which is part of Middlesex County, the county seat of Middlesex (now and then) is Cambridge -- probably about 16 miles away.  Historically, looking at Newberry Library's historic county maps, Concord was in Middlesex County which was established in 1643 as one of the original Massachusetts counties.  People did not live near the county office, in this case it is about 16 miles away on modern roads (then, not by modern highways with easily driven cars) -- long walk or horseback ride.  Maybe they didn't see a need to record it until it there was yet another sale of the land.  Maybe everyone involved went to Cambridge and recorded it 12 August 1659.

Another question would be: when was the index created?
This index goes from 1639 to 1799.  Was it created in 1800 or in some year long after that?  My reason for asking this question has to do with the change from the Julian to Gregorian Calendar in many Protestant countries (including England and its colonies) in 1752.  In the Julian Calendar New Year's Day was not the first of January.  Instead New Years Day was the 25th of March:  Annunciation Day (nine months prior to Christmas in the Christian churches, the day that Angel Gabriel told the Virgin Mary about her new upcoming role as the mother of Jesus).  With the adoption of the Gregorian Calendar, the 1st of January became New Years Day.

Thinking about the question of when was this index created, I wondered: how was the index creator reading "9th day, 11th month"?  In 1800, the 11th month was November, but in 1656, the 11th month was January.

Looking closely at the recording date by Thos Danforth:






I transcribed this last sentence:
"Entered and Recorded  12th (8 mo  59    By Thos Danforth Record."

In the Julian Calendar, 8th month would be October, and if I read this correctly, then the date should be 12 October 1659.

If the person creating the grantor and grantee index which goes through 1799, was thinking of the difference between the calendars of 1659 and their current year, would the date have been recorded as 12 October instead of 12 August 1659?

I can't get into the mind of the person with the wonderful handwriting who created the index.  But it would be nice to be able to ask that question!  [Personally I wish that Danforth who entered and recorded the deed had equally as good handwriting!]

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If you want more information on the change between the Julian and Gregorian calendars --- the why, how and when--- check out The 1752 Calendar Change on the Connecticut State Library website.   Since the Protestant countries switched many years after the Catholic Countries, there was an adjustment needed which involved eliminating 11 days in 1752.  The Connecticut Library site points out as examples of what happened with the change:

The changeover involved a series of steps:
• December 31, 1750 was followed by January 1, 1750 (under the "Old Style" calendar, December was the 10th month and January the 11th)
• March 24, 1750 was followed by March 25, 1751 (March 25 was the first day of the "Old Style" year)
• December 31, 1751 was followed by January 1, 1752 (the switch from March 25 to January 1 as the first day of the year)
• September 2, 1752 was followed by September 14, 1752 (drop of 11 days to conform to the Gregorian calendar)

The link to this post is http://genea-adventures.blogspot.com/2013/05/they-might-have-arrived-on-alien-space.html

©Erica Dakin Voolich 2013


Tuesday, May 14, 2013

"St. Anthony, St. Anthony, Please Come Around, Something's Lost and Can't Be Found!"

The name "Okljucna" means "around the key" here is the key 
viewed from the road leading into Okljucna, Croatia.

Usually I write about my adventures researching my own family.  Today I'm making an exception and instead writing about seeking out my husband's family  who came from two islands in the Adriatic:  Vis and Brac, Croatia.  I want to apologize for not putting a "v" over a bunch of z's and "c's, and getting the  ´ to end up on top of the letter "c" instead of next to it -- I don't yet know how to do it!

His relatives welcomed us with "opened arms" and were wonderful.  I will not name them because I do not publish the names of living people without their permission.



We stayed and visited in Split with my mother-in-law's cousins.  On the 3rd day we took a ferry to Vis where my husband's maternal grandparents were all born.  The husband of one of his second cousins accompanied us to Vis and was an amazing guide to Okljucna, the semi-abandonded village where the Bozanic family lived and his grandparents migrated from.  No one lives there now, but our "tour guide" could tell us who had lived in each house.  I say semi-abandoned because there are members of the younger generation trying to restore some homes enough for weekend living --- including the Bozanic three-family.


 It is easy to see why folks have moved away from this scenic village -- no running water or wells -- just cisterns.  Electricity has just recently come to the area and the "improved" roads are very rough.  Now you can drive around, but the car scrapped bottom as we slowly went in, around and out 13 km.  When my mother-in-law visited in 1991 she went in by donkey.  The only street sign at the one crossroads, gives two towns, each "2h" [two hours] away by foot.  The modern sign has replaced the old hand-lettered one my husband saw in his past trip.  Any time they had to sell fish, for example, it was carried to Komiza or Vis on their backs or heads.  They raised olives and grapes. Not an easy life.

We visited the tiny church.  There are people in the village of Vis who care for it.





The inside is so small that there is only one small bench with a kneeler is on each side of the room along the walls.  We noticed pictures of and a statue of St. Anthony, and immediately my husband and our guide started reciting the poem: 
"St. Anthony, St. Anthony, please come around.  Something's lost and can't be found" -- each in his own language.  
I added: it's appropriately named since they have lost all of their congregation and some people definitely need to be found!


Road leading up to the church
The surrounding buildings at the church are in a state of disrepair but till have some interesting things to see.


a beehive oven and rack to pull
out the bread



hoops for wine barrels

a cistern --
bucket nearby and water within


a sundial
shoes left behind next to oven
We spent time with relatives on Vis (the island) who now live in Komiza and Vis (the town) -- such hard working generous people -- even had a chance to share stories and my math books with one who teaches the same age students as I did (but then at the end of the school day joins his wife and father in their vineyard or olive grove).

We next took the ferry to Brac, this time our "tour guide" was another second cousin's husband.  On our way to Splitska, were my husband's father was born, we stopped to visit relatives in Dracevica, a small town of 80 (down from 500).  Again we were welcomed with open arms, a great meal and stories.  The town around them is partially abandoned [St. Anthony are you listening?] but they have updated and expanded their house.  They too are working multiple jobs, including a vineyard and running a general store.  I was able to share my math books with a first year high school teacher of engineering.

They took me on a tour of the downtown which included these plaques.

This explains why my mother-in-law didn't know how to contact relatives on the island on my husband's first trip in the mid-1990s -- she hadn't gotten the news that telephones had come to the island of Brac.    They also showed me the old horse-driven olive presses.


The "second" squeeze in cool press olive oil processing.
Now the people take it elsewhere and it is done by machine
without the horsepower in living color.

The first squeeze of the olives.  You can see how the horse
could walk around driving the olive press.
outhouse
We walked around, chatted with neighbors, saw the closed neighborhood school, their abandoned stone outhouse and their still operating stone oven.  My husband's family story is that on Vis, when they used the outhouse they only had flat stones to wipe themselves afterwards (I didn't ask whether that was true on Brac). 
We could see the evidence of the where the wildfires burned the distant mountain and then came right up next to their home [firemen were pumping water on it to save it], three years ago.
oven

We visited the Brac Museum in Skrip -- it is in a building that dates to Roman times and is next to our "tour guide's" ancestral family castle, also from Roman times.  We saw the family store and the little church with a pine tree growing out of the roof in Nerezisca.




We were welcomed to Splitska by even more relatives -- who had stories to tell, a place to stay, and another tour guide who took us to Vidova Gora -- highest point on Brac at 778 m -- with a beautiful panorama view, including Vis on a clear day.  

She took us to see the Vulic and Drpic houses where my father-in-law was born and lived until he immigrated to the US as a young boy.  


The smaller house with an air conditioner (now) is the Vulic
house, the ones next to it and below are the Drpic houses.
Helen Drpic married Mate Vulic -- nothing like marrying 
the girl or guy next door!


I marveled at the irregular tessellation her husband designed, cut and laid on their porch.


Both islands, Vis and Brac, are incredibly rocky.  It is hard to imagine that anything can grow with stones everywhere:  on the ground, stone walls, houses, roofs of houses, large piles.  In fact, vineyards and olive groves usually are surrounded by stone walls and often have piles of stones between the trees.  



In Split and all the towns we visited on Vis and Brac, everywhere we were greeted joyfully with lots of hugs and kisses, stories were shared, we were well-fed, and then sent on our way with olive oil or wine.

Splitska from the road leading into town.

I came home with a sense of what life was like for my husband's family in Croatia and a better understanding of why many people immigrated after the phylloxera pestilence wiped out the grape crops that my husband's family depended upon for their survival.  I can only imagine what life was like for my own ancestors who came from other parts of Europe at an earlier time.



I will leave it to my husband to write up the genealogical findings, scan their photos, share their stories, and share the hundreds of pictures that I took.



This blog hasn't begun to do justice to what I saw [900+ pictures] and the people I met.  But it is a start that I hope you'll enjoy.




©2013 Erica Dakin Voolich